Hollywood Popular Artists

Jul 10th 2013, 16:49, by Jose Iniguez

"I've always had dreams -- the dreams have just gotten bigger," Jennifer Lopez tells W Magazine in its August issue. At the age of 18, though, those dreams were coming from her dance studio couch after being kicked out from home by her mother.

Since then, she's racked up the accomplishments and accolades. Name a J. Lo song, like "Live It Up" -- it's topped the Billboard Dance/Club Play chart. Name a product, like cell phones, perfumes, linens and clothing -- she's sold it. Name a magazine, like People's Most Beautiful Woman issue -- she's covered it.  It's in her latest cover article where Jennifer recounts parts of her road to super-stardom, including the time she spent homeless:

Lopez moved out [of her parents' home] when she was 18 -- 26 years ago. She had studied dance at the Ballet Hispanico and at the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, and she wanted to pursue it as a career. "My mom and I butted heads," Lopez told [W Magazine's Lynn Hirschberg] later over the phone from Los Angeles. "I didn't want to go to college -- I wanted to try dance full-time. So she and I had a break. I started sleeping on the sofa in the dance studio. I was homeless, but I told her, 'This is what I have to do.' A few months later, I landed a job dancing in Europe. When I got back, I booked In Living Color. I became a Fly Girl and moved to L.A. It all happened in a year."

Earlier this year, another Latina's passion in the arts and struggle through homelessness became an Academy Award-winning short film. "Inocente"  won Best Documentary Short at the 2013 Oscars and depicted then 15-year-old Inocente Izucar's struggle as she refused to let her dream of becoming an artist be caged by her life as an undocumented immigrant forced to live homeless for nine years.

While Jennifer's bout with homelessness lasted a few months, it often ends up becoming a chronic struggle for many like Inocente. On any given night in 2012, it was estimated that 16 percent of all those experiencing homelessness were chronically homeless. To learn more about the arts and homelessness, take action below.

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